Free Duke Herheart Final by Olivia Ritch

mistress.
    Her mistress? Bloody hell and damnation.
    He made the mistake of stealing a glance at her as they departed the drive for the bridle path leading to the cottages. The picture she cut with leanly muscled legs encased in his breeches, her small booted feet clinging desperately to stirrups while the breeze tugged at straying strands of spun-gold hair stole his breath as surely as if he had run headlong into an immovable object.Worse yet, as he watched her settle on Jasmine, he remembered Kathryn’s heavy-tongued words as she had talked about the rocking motion of his horse’s gait. Pressed up against her as he had been, the words had echoed the sensations his body had been feeling. Watching her again this afternoon, he was flooded with that new sense of anticipation, eroticism, and longing
    “You said you might teach me a little about riding. I know when you’re just walking, sitting is okay, but what should I do when we start going faster?”
    “Rise just off the seat with your thighs supporting your weight,” he said as he showed her the correct position.
    “Okay, this is like riding a bicycle so that when you go over the bumps your skin isn’t slapped silly.”
    “Exactly. Shall we try a faster speed?”
    Michael eased Fury into a trot and Kathryn naturally assumed the position on Jasmine. The delicate horse stepped properly into Fury’s wake and as both horses responded to his pressure to increase their speed, they began eating up ground. He hadn’t told her he was going to make them gallop so that she would not have time to be afraid. She had 44

    Duke of Her Dreams – Olivia Ritch

    made it clear she had not really ever ridden, but for an American female with no particular riding experience, she was taking to it rather naturally, her strong thighs showing remarkable stamina in holding the position.
    While she was so much smaller than he was, her lithe form was perfectly suited to riding.
    When it was clear Kathryn was straining and unable to hold herself off the saddle any longer, Michael slowed and turned. “I must compliment you on your lesson.”
    Rather than answer him, Kathryn nodded, likely because she held a mouthful of ribbons since hair had come loose entirely from her delicately spun coiffure. With the mass getting more unruly, she had gathered it into her hands then began winding the ribbon about the length. With her hands working her hair thus, it was at that moment that the Viking warrior goddess came to life. Michael drank in Kathryn’s flushed cheeks, barely restrained mane, wildly sparkling eyes and the upturned corners of her mouth. The sun loved her, made the bronze skin and honey hair fairly glow. The woman was a stunning vision.
    “That was amazing. I feel so good. Don’t get me wrong, it totally exhausted me and my quads are burning but oh my gosh, I now know why people love riding horses. The power, the freedom. Ahhh…”
    It was almost as if she had been made to order just for him.

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    Duke of Her Dreams – Olivia Ritch

Chapter Five

    The tenant visits were, in a word, instructive. Each and every female he encountered regarded Kathryn Ragland with awe and the deference he would expect to be afforded his presumptive Duchess. It had not occurred to him how specifically she would be viewed by literally everyone they encountered; he had merely been seeking the excuse to spend the afternoon with her.
    “Have we just passed another apple orchard?”
    Her question shook him from his reverie. “They’re not apples. We have pears, too.”
    “I love pears. We had those pickled figs at lunch. What do you do with the pears?”
    “Probably anything you can imagine. Stewed is my favorite.”
    “That doesn’t sound quite as good as fresh off the tree,” she mused.
    “Then you will have to try one when they ripen.”
    She looked at him then glanced away. He realized she was probably going to say she wouldn’t be around that long, but had caught herself. He was sure she would